Thibodaux councilman fined, given hunting probation

Thursday

Apr 11, 2013 at 9:20 PM

A Thibodaux city councilman was fined and sentenced to a three-year hunting probation after he shot and killed more than 50 ducks — a number well over the legal limit — in Terrebonne Parish, state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries officials said.

Katie UrbaszewskiStaff Writer

A Thibodaux city councilman was fined and sentenced to a three-year hunting probation after he shot and killed more than 50 ducks — a number well over the legal limit — in Terrebonne Parish, state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries officials said.Councilman Chip Badeaux was fined $5,000 and is not allowed to hunt any animals during his probation, said Adam Einck, spokesman for Wildlife and Fisheries. He pleaded guilty before federal Judge Joseph Wilkinson Jr. on Tuesday in New Orleans.He shot and killed 50 black-bellied whistling ducks and six mallard ducks in December 2011, Einck said. The state restricts hunters to killing six migratory birds a day, and only four mallards a day.Badeaux declined comment Thursday, but he told The Courier and the Daily Comet in the past that he did not realize those birds were protected and was shooting them because they were a nuisance.“It was poor judgement and a misunderstanding,” Badeaux told The Courier and Daily Comet in May.His official charge is shooting ducks over the limit with “live decoys” because he was on land where there were ducks, geese and exotic animals, such as ostriches, Chris Cenac Sr. said.Cenac, a Houma physician, was fined $2,500, plus $10 for court costs, and also sentenced to probation for aiding and abetting another to hunt over live decoys.Cenac said he was not present when Badeaux shot the ducks, did not ask him to do so and was not aware that he had done so until he was charged. He was charged with aiding and abetting because he manages the land, which his family owns, and the birds, which attracted the ducks Badeaux shot, Cenac said. Badeaux is a friend of his.The whistling ducks were a nuisance, however, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had been trapping and removing them, Cenac said.

Staff Writer Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at 448-7617 or katie.urbaszewski@dailycomet.com.